NCAA Championship: How Louisville bested Michigan for the title

Michigan guard Trey Burke (3) walks off the court as Louisville celebrate their win during the second half of the NCAA Final Four tournament college basketball championship game Monday, April 8, 2013, in Atlanta. Louisville won 82-76. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

After a roller-coaster season and an even more unpredictable postseason, a champion has finally been crowned. The Louisville Cardinals, the NCAA tournament's top overall seed, held off the Michigan Wolverines 82-76 on Monday night in a game that lived up to its billing.

Here's how the Cardinals wound up cutting down the nets and hoisting the Championship trophy:

Cardinals keys:

1. Siva takes the lead

Peyton Siva scored only four first-half points as the Cardinals fell into a hole early and had to scramble to get within 38-37 at halftime. But something must have clicked for the senior point guard during the break. Siva went on a tear after intermission, scoring 14 second-half points — including two on an alley-oop dunk — to help the Cardinals surge ahead and hang on for the win.

2. Comeback bids

The Cardinals aren’t strangers to clawing back into games. They did it against Syracuse in the Big East Championship when they trailed by 16 points, and did it again against Wichita State in the Final Four when they fell behind by as many as 12. Louisville trailed by 12 once again early in the first half on Monday, but went on a 16-5 run to get all but erase Michigan's lead by halftime. The run was fueled by 14 straight points from Luke Hancock and capped by a monstrous Montrezl Harrell dunk.

3. Foul trouble

It’s not that Michigan racked up a bevy of fouls as a team (15 overall, compared to Louisville’s 22), it’s that the fouls the Wolverines did rack up went against their top players. Both Mitch McGary and Trey Burke played with four fouls in the game's final minutes. McGary, who earned his fourth foul with 9:11 to play, sat out for almost five minutes and was fortunate that the Cardinals only increased their lead from two points to six during his time on the bench. Burke, who picked up his fourth foul with 2:07 left, couldn’t foul with under a minute to play, which wasted precious seconds off the clock.

Louisville guard/forward Luke Hancock (11) reacts to defeating Michigan after the second half of the NCAA Final Four tournament college basketball championship game Monday, April 8, 2013, in Atlanta. Louisville won 82-76. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

MVP: Luke Hancock, Louisville

Hancock, who made his name with a 20-point performance against Wichita State on Saturday, was up for more in the championship game. The junior guard and Final Four MVP scored a team-high 22 points while going 5-of-5 from beyond the arc. 16 of those 22 points came in the first half, helping Louisville get back into the game after Michigan took a big lead out of the gate.

LVP: Mitch McGary, Michigan

Let me say this: McGary is one the main reasons Michigan’s season lasted until the final game. But foul trouble that sidelined him for five of the game's nine minutes really hurt the Wolverines. And when you’re averaging a double-double in the NCAA tournament, a six-point, six-rebound performance in the title game just won’t cut it.

At the 6:36 mark of the second half, Trey Burke was fouled by Louisville center Gorgui Dieng on the way to the rim and hit the court hard. Burke was clearly shaken up but stayed in the game, hitting one of two free throws to trim the deficit to three points. Though Burke continues to drive into the lane over the final six and a half minutes of the game, he seemed uncomfortable. Burke missed three of his last four shots from the field, scoring five of his final seven points from the free throw line.

Michigan guard Spike Albrecht (2) shoots against Louisville forward Montrezl Harrell (24) during the first half of the NCAA Final Four tournament college basketball championship game Monday, April 8, 2013, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/NCAA Photos, Chris Steppig)

Number of note

15: Louisville's offensive rebounds

What's even more impressive is that 11 of those offensive boards came in the second half with the Cardinals grabbing two or more on three separate possessions in the final seven and a half minutes of the game while protecting a lead that never exceeded eight points.

Biggest Surprise: Albrecht vs. Hancock

If you had a Spike Albrecht vs. Luke Hancock showdown highlighting the first half, raise your hand. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Anyone? Albrecht took the game by storm, scoring 17 first-half points while shooting 4-of-4 from 3-point land. Hancock answered with 14 straight points of his own, also going 4-of-4 from deep and scoring 16 total points in the first half.